U announces Gopher Radio Broadcast Team & other coverage info

Donate To GopherHole
GopherHole Staff

GopherHole Staff

GopherHole Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
5,243
Reaction score
1,570
Points
113
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA ATHLETICS, GOPHER SPORTS PROPERTIES ANNOUNCE RADIO BROADCAST TALENT FOR FOOTBALL, EXPANDED RADIO NETWORK

Free Internet Audio Streaming, Mobile Phone Access Available for Fans

University of Minnesota Athletics and its multimedia rights holder, Gopher Sports Properties, today announced its football broadcast team for the 2011-12 season, as well as an expanded Gopher Radio Network Presented by Alarm Force.

The radio broadcast booth will feature Mike Grimm calling play-by-play, alongside Gopher great and long-time analyst Darrell Thompson and sideline reporter and KFAN personality Justin Gaard. Kevin Falness will host the pre-game show, and Corbu Stathes will host the halftime and post-game shows and provide scoreboard updates throughout the broadcasts.

Grimm enters his first year as the radio voice of Golden Gopher football, having served as play-by-play voice of Gopher basketball since 2006 and as pre-game, halftime and post-game show host for Golden Gopher football since 2006. He co-hosts the “Gopher Football Weekly with Jerry Kill Radio Show”, the “Gopher Basketball Weekly with Tubby Smith Radio Show” and produces and anchors “The Golden Gopher Daily Update”. He is a two-time winner of the Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year Award (2009, 2010), as presented by The National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. He also won the same award in Iowa in 1999. In addition to his Gopher duties, Grimm is the Minnesota News Network sports director.

Thompson, Gophers’ all-time leading rusher, scored 40 rushing touchdowns, which remains a University of Minnesota career record. Thompson holds numerous Gopher records and was a two-time, First-Team All-Big Ten selection, earning those honors following the 1987 and 1989 seasons. He was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 1986 and drafted in 1990 by the NFL’s Green Bay Packers, where he played five years. He has been an analyst on Gopher radio broadcasts since 1998.

Gaard, an Edina, Minn. native who attended the University of Minnesota, is the former co-host of “Gopher Fan Line” on KFAN. He currently serves as producer of “Bumper to Bumper with Dan Barreiro” on KFAN, which airs weekdays from 3-6:30 p.m.

Falness has worked in the radio business for 19 years, joining the Minnesota Wild broadcast team in 2000. He has served as the studio host and executive producer of Wild broadcasts since the team’s inaugural season. Before that, he worked with Denver’s KKFN Radio covering all sports including the University of Colorado, Colorado State and Air Force Academy football.

Stathes begins his fifth year of association with the Gopher Radio Network and has been the voice of Golden Gopher women’s basketball since the 2007-08 season. Stathes also has done work on the Big Ten Network, the Minnesota News Network and the Minnesota Sports Broadcast Network.


Additionally, the Gopher Radio Network has expanded as KFAN 100.3 FM and Twin Cities Talk AM 1130 will be the flagship stations for football broadcasts in the Twin Cities. In addition to carrying the football broadcasts, KFAN also will air a full hour of programming leading into the Gopher Radio Network pre-game show and an hour of post-game coverage following the network’s post-game show. Gopher Sports Properties (GSP) oversees every aspect of Gopher Radio Network Presented by Alarm Force, and a complete list of affiliates is noted below with those new to the network identified as well.


In addition to the over-the-air network, there are many other ways fans can access Gopher football broadcasts. Free internet audio streaming of game broadcasts and coaches radio shows will be available on GopherSports.com at http://www.gophersports.com/allaccess/gopherallaccess.html, and via mobile phone, allowing fans the opportunity to listen to broadcasts virtually anywhere.


“We’re looking forward to the new season of Golden Gopher Football on the Gopher Radio Network,” Minnesota Director of Athletics Joel Maturi said. “We believe we’ve put together a radio team who will do an outstanding job of bringing the games to our fans all over the world. We’re also excited about our new flagship station KFAN and our expanded radio network.”


2011-12 Gopher Radio Network (Football Broadcasts)

Ada/Fargo – KRJB 106.5 FM
Ada/Mahnomen – KRJM 101.5 FM
Aitkin – KKIN 94.3 FM
Albert Lea – KATE 1450 AM
Alexandria – KULO 94.3 FM
Austin – KAUS 1480/99.9 AM/FM
Bemidji – KBUN 1450 AM
Benson – KSCR 93.5 FM
Brainerd – KBLB 93.3 FM
*Buffalo – KRWC 1360 AM
Crookston – KROX 1260 AM
Detroit Lakes – KDLM 1340 AM
Duluth – WGEE 970 AM
Ely – WELY 94.5 FM
Fairmont – KSUM 1370 AM
Glenwood/Alexandria – KMGK 107.1 FM
Grand Rapids – KOZY 1320 AM
Little Falls – KLTF 960 AM
Marshall – KMHL 1400 AM
Minneapolis/St. Paul – KFAN 1130 AM
Minneapolis/St. Paul – KTLK 100.3 FM
Montevideo – KDMA 1460 AM
New Prague – KRDS 95.5 FM
Owatonna/Waseca – KOWZ 1170 AM
Owatonna/Mankato – KOWZ 100.9 FM
Park Rapids – KPRM 870 AM
Pipestone – KLOH 1050 AM
*Preston – KVGO 104.3 FM
Redwood Falls – KLGR 1490 AM
Red Wing – KCUE 1250 AM
Rochester – KROC 1340 AM
St. Cloud – KXSS 1390 AM
*Thief River Falls – KTRF 1230 AM
*Thief River Falls – KKAQ 1460 AM
Walker – KAKK 1570 AM
Wadena – KVKK 1070 AM
*Willmar – KDJS 1590 AM/KRVY 97.3 FM
Windom – KDOM 1580/94.3 AM/FM
Winona – KWNO 1230 AM
Worthington – KWOA 730 AM

*Denotes new affiliate
 

In addition to the over-the-air network, there are many other ways fans can access Gopher football broadcasts. Free internet audio streaming of game broadcasts and coaches radio shows will be available on GopherSports.com at http://www.gophersports.com/allacces...allaccess.html, and via mobile phone, allowing fans the opportunity to listen to broadcasts virtually anywhere.
Click to expand...

This is the best news of all of the above. I know there were many here that were upset about KFAN getting the broadcast rights for Gopher games because they didn't have access to the station. Now that they are streaming the game's broadcast for FREE, those people have nothing to gripe about.
 

@KFANAM1130 The new @GoldenGopherFB Broadcast crew of Grimm, Thompson and Gaard will be in studio with the @PowerTripKFAN tomorrow morning at 8:00a.
 

Gaard? Awesome. Leave it up to the Gophers to hire an Iowa partisan. We wouldn't want to be too partial. Gotta have some balance to keep us in our place.
 

I'm underwhelmed. Oh well. Since Ray retired, listening to the Gophers on the radio has lost all luster. I've heard Gaard's smug remarks in the past. No matter. I attend the home games and watch the away games on television. Washburn McReavey and Federated Insurance will do just fine without my ears hearing their ads.
 


Gaard is the biggest POS to ever hit radio. He's a perfect match for his smug co-host Barrito. How great, the smug tennis player from edina that loves hawkeye football is now being paid to be a gopher reporter. unbelievable.... He's spent a good chunk of his radio minutes on kfan being a pompus a$$ towards gopher fooball with his smug remarks over and over again, and they hire him. I wonder if he'll wear his iowa colors to TCF this fall like he was the last 2 times i saw him at Gopher/hawkeye games.
 

I'm not jacked about Gaard being the sideline guy. But to be fair, he was only 'smug' toward the Gophers because of Timmy Brew. Not that is a good enough excuse, considering how he (Brew) obviously turned off the press/media, it does say something. Especially since the hiring of Kill he's been all but slobbering on the Gophs knob.
 

Did the Gophers even do their research with Gaard? I will be the first in this thread to say it. There is no place for a fing Iowa fan doing Gopher radio broadcasts. Who is the weiner who hire him?
 

That would be Greg Gerlach at Learfield and Joel Maturi. They have the final say in the broadcast team. Afterall this is a Learfield Sports Production.
 



Remember when people used to turn the sound down on the TV, and turn up the radio, because the radio announcers were so much better than the TV announcers? It's not practical now, because the TV broadcast can be several seconds delayed, but even if it weren't, it's not the same any more. I'll give the new team a chance, of course, perhaps knowing where their bread is buttered might get them to up their performance. Hopefully, we won't be listening to the game, not having a clue whether the pass was caught, and if caught, how many yards were gained.
 

4four4 said:
I will be the first in this thread to say it. There is no place for a fing Iowa fan doing Gopher radio broadcasts.
Click to expand...

The third, actually. Please see the posts above yours.

Formo said:
But to be fair, he was only 'smug' toward the Gophers because of Timmy Brew.
Click to expand...

No, he is inherently smug because he is a cake-eater from Edina. And, more specifically, he is smug toward the Gophers because he is a former Hawkeye athlete and football season-ticket holder. Which, of course, means that the Gophers hired a Hawkeye booster to be on the radio broadcasts. *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#ing unbelievable.

Formo said:
Especially since the hiring of Kill he's been all but slobbering on the Gophs knob.
Click to expand...

Of course...because he is being paid to do so. He's still a disgusting Hogeye wolf in Gopher clothing.
 

I don't have a huge problem with any of this, including Gaard. Really, as someone else pointed out I too am always at the home games and watch the away games on TV. I listen to one game, at most, on the radio per year. I think Grimm and Thompson will be solid in the booth. No problems there.

As far as Gaard is concerned... I can see where the frustration comes from. As a long time regular listener to KFAN drive time radio, and as a person that doesn't get bent out of shape when media commentary doesn't fawn all over my favorite sports teams and tell me what I want to hear, I do agree that Gaard was over the top a few times in the past couple years. His sarcasm and negativity toward Gopher football just went too far, even for me at times. I also get tired of the dead-horse cake eater schtick that he constantly brings up with DB on the air.

However, I've continued to listen and since the Gophers have moved to KFAN I have heard him change his tune (as you might expect given a child would connect the dots to know where the bread is being buttered). Quite frankly, I enjoyed his interviews from the B1G media days and if his sideline interviews and other contributions are of the same quality... he will be just fine. Sports media personalities pull up anchor and end up doing sports in markets outside of their childhood (or college) fandom all the time. It is expected, and very few can't ultimately grow beyond their "favorite" teams to offer quality print or broadcasting as part of their careers.

I'm not going to lose sleep over it.
 

Are you guys really that naive? Do you really think A) He will report with an Iowa Bias or give Hawkeye notes while reporting from the field of a Gophers game? of B) KFAN or the U
of M would allow that to happen even if he was as biased as you claim. This is the real world and a real job and until proven otherwise I will give these guys the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear the product. If it's anything like their Spring Game coverage or Gaard from the Big Ten Media days it will be a MUCH better broadcast we have had in the past on CCO.
 



I will give it a try, I like Grimm and Thompson. The Broadcast will be better. I hope there is no need for Thompson to correct the call after the fact as he did with Dave Lee.
 

gopherguy71 said:
Are you guys really that naive? Do you really think A) He will report with an Iowa Bias or give Hawkeye notes while reporting from the field of a Gophers game? of B) KFAN or the U
of M would allow that to happen even if he was as biased as you claim. This is the real world and a real job and until proven otherwise I will give these guys the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear the product. If it's anything like their Spring Game coverage or Gaard from the Big Ten Media days it will be a MUCH better broadcast we have had in the past on CCO.
Click to expand...

All it took was to listen to Gaard during the spring game and B1G media days to realize he will do a great job on the radio. I will catch a lot of them this year and can't wait for the KFAN/Gopher marriage to be in full swing.
 

gopherguy71 said:
Are you guys really that naive? Do you really think A) He will report with an Iowa Bias or give Hawkeye notes while reporting from the field of a Gophers game? of B) KFAN or the U
of M would allow that to happen even if he was as biased as you claim. This is the real world and a real job and until proven otherwise I will give these guys the benefit of the doubt and wait to hear the product. If it's anything like their Spring Game coverage or Gaard from the Big Ten Media days it will be a MUCH better broadcast we have had in the past on CCO.
Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly... So do Coaches! doesn't BB have a hawkeye tattoo? I'd rather make fun of guys like him than buy into some great conspiracy theory.... Gaard has seen the light and for that I say Hallelujah!
 


the logic - he went to Iowa therefore he shall not ever be permitted to report or work on a Gopher radio broadcast ever!
 

All I know is there's no Dave Lee on play by play. That's good enough for me.
 

scools12 said:
the logic - he went to Iowa therefore he shall not ever be permitted to report or work on a Gopher radio broadcast ever!
Click to expand...

False. The logic is "he is, and forever will be, an Iowa booster, therefore he should not ever be permitted to report or work on a Gopher radio broadcast ever."
 

dpodoll68 said:
False. The logic is "he is, and forever will be, an Iowa booster, therefore he should not ever be permitted to report or work on a Gopher radio broadcast ever."
Click to expand...

I agree. If you are an open booster of any team of a major rival they should not be able to broadcast the other teams games. In all honesty how can we take him seriously? Sorry you can't.
 

Would Iowa hire a Gopher booster to work on Hawkeye broadcasts? I'll give them a chance, but if there any divided loyalties when Floyd is on the line, it's a problem.
 

dpodoll68 said:
No, he is inherently smug because he is a cake-eater from Edina. And, more specifically, he is smug toward the Gophers because he is a former Hawkeye athlete and football season-ticket holder. Which, of course, means that the Gophers hired a Hawkeye booster to be on the radio broadcasts. *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#ing unbelievable.
Click to expand...

I hear your point on the Edina cake-eater. I've listened to Gaardsy for awhile (minus the majority of the Brew era) and never once did I have much of an issue with his Gopher takes. I recall a great morning montage he and Puffy did back when he was producing the PA and Dubay show, and both him and Puff were exclaiming the arrogance of Becky fans. He also had some valid thoughts on the Gophers back then, despite his collegiate 'career'.

dpodoll68 said:
Of course...because he is being paid to do so. He's still a disgusting Hogeye wolf in Gopher clothing.
Click to expand...

Dude, this all was happening ever since Brew was fired and more so after Kill's first presser. I believe the later happened prior to KFAN getting the Gopher broadcast rights.

I'll give you that he's being paid to slobber on the Goph's knob NOW because he's directly apart of their broadcast team. But just because a produces a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#ty show on the same network that has the broadcast rights, doesn't sway his takes. Again, I've listened to his takes 5+ years prior to the Fan getting Gopher rights.

Again, I'm not jacked about him being the sideline guy. I understand why many dislike him just because of his lineage (Iowa alum, etc). But to say one dislikes him because of his takes, I think, is mostly ignorant.
 


dpodoll68 said:
False. The logic is "he is, and forever will be, an Iowa booster, therefore he should not ever be permitted to report or work on a Gopher radio broadcast ever."
Click to expand...

yes how dare they hire this guy.

simply solution for you and those that agree with you. don't listen to any of the radio coverage.
 

GopherHole Staff said:
Gaard, an Edina, Minn. native who attended the University of Minnesota, is the former co-host of “Gopher Fan Line” on KFAN. He currently serves as producer of “Bumper to Bumper with Dan Barreiro” on KFAN, which airs weekdays from 3-6:30 p.m.
Click to expand...


When did Gaard attend the U of M? Didn't he play tennis at Iowa?
 

scools12 said:
yes how dare they hire this guy.

simply solution for you and those that agree with you. don't listen to any of the radio coverage.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I'll think for myself.

Here's a simple solution for you and those who agree with you. Don't read threads like these.
 


scools12 said:
don't listen to any of the radio coverage.
Click to expand...

I very rarely do. I'm at every home game when possible and watch every road game on TV when possible.

My opinion is, you're not that much of a Gopher fan if you don't care about every facet of the team, which includes the media surrounding it.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom